What the owners of today's top smartphones are complaining about

Crowdsourced troubleshooting site Fixya asked its audience to come up with the top five problems that afflict each of four top smartphone models. The phones involved include a quartet of today's most popular handsets including the Samsung Galaxy S4, the Apple iPhone 5s, the Motorola Moto X and the HTC One. The top issue affecting the flagship Android device, the Samsung Galaxy S4, is overheating. This was selected by 25% of those Galaxy S4 owners who voted and is said to occur when the phone's users are gaming and browsing the web at the sane time. Some suggest that the plastic build of the phone is to blame for the feeling that the phone is running too hot. Other issues with the phone include its tendency to drain the battery forcing owners to recharge once during the day, and the screen is darker than the glass on other devices. That affects those browsing or reading text on the device.

The next phone is the Motorola Moto X. 30% of those who own this model say that their number one complaint is the lack of storage space. There is 16GB of native storage on the Moto X of which 12GB is available to the phone's owners. But the kick in the head is that there is no microSD slot on the phone that could help expand the amount of storage available. 20% of Moto X users are not happy with the 720 x 1280 resolution screen, which displays signs of pixelation and color saturation. The camera also was considered problematic by 20% of Moto X users and that is no shocker considering Motorola's recent history. An update was recently sent out to improve exposures of the pictures taken by Moto X owners who tend not to be too heavily into photography.

The Apple iPhone 5s is next, and there is a two-way tie at the top. Owners of Apple's full-featured phone are worried about privacy with Touch ID (25%) and the battery life on the handset (25%). Running apps and using navigation services seem to consume a lot of battery life. As far as the data generated by Touch ID, it is all stored on the phone's A7 chip and is not sent to Apple or stored in the cloud. Users of the phone can also disable Touch ID if they so desire. 15% of iPhone 5s users complained about apps crashing and the size of the display. Both are pretty self-explanatory, and while a software update could fix the former, Apple is said to be working to increase the size of the display on the next iteration of its iconic smartphone. With Windows Phone now offering a 6 inch phablet, this is one issue that Apple does need to address soon.

And that brings us to the last of the four smartphones on the list, the HTC One. It should be no surprise that 30% of HTC One users complain about the phone's battery life.This has been a complaint with phones made by the Taiwan based manufacturer for some time. While the 2300mAh cell inside the unit matches the one on the Nexus 5, some complain that the HTC One cell takes 5 hours to charge fully. And because the battery cannot be replaced by the phone's user, this is a problem both with the low battery life and slow recharging. Audio issues account for 20% of the complaints revolving around the HTC One. A hiss can be heard during calls and while listening to music. Also garnering 20% of HTC One user's complaints are issues with the camera. While the UltraPixel camera may bring more light into the photograph allowing for good quality shots, even under low light conditions, the camera won't deliver the quality of pictures that the cameras on other high-end smartphones are capable of.

If you want to see how each smartphone scored in individual categories, checkout the slideshow below.

60 Comments

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So, I'm guessing the battery on the moto x is pretty good...?
The thing with these problems is that there is an easy fix. Overheating can be solved w/ a case, touch id can be disabled (which was mentioned above)...
But yes apple does need to do something about those 4in screens.

I know that Samsung has incorporated muti-window tech now so you can be doing 2 things at once, but what gets me is just how many people out there really are capable of browsing the internet in one window and gaming in the next, and all the while being efficient enough at actually doing both at the same time without breaking their stride? Can anyone really play a racing game while checking out porn at the same time????? Unless you have 3 hands or a friend to help you, I just don't see how this is possible.

Its stupid apple, promising a *fantastic* phone, users AND article writers get all expectant, then the phone comes out, to apple's 'what they thought was great' spec.. definatley 'living in a cave/ clueless'.. /
GSMARENA shows more than 40 phones that have at least 1280x 720, 350ppi, 5 inch displays, and they think 1136x640, 326ppi, 4inch is great??
And every other phone can transfer file for FREE using bluetooth, where apple users have to use their 'minutes' or web access to do so.. (I'm talking about 'normal users' that do NOT hack, and find it difficult enough, just to use it..:) )

Transfering data is the most prime issue which forced me to ditch my iphone 4s... now I have cheap chinese andriod phone and I rate it miles ahead of apple for great value of money... now I am from ilover(fool) to ienemy... hahaha

Moto X battery is probably better than average. I don't think it has the largest battery in the world, but it's more efficient than most Android devices because it is running nearly stock Android. It also just got the 4.4 KitKat update, so we'll see if that helps/hurts battery life.

My dad has the Moto X, and because he is an extremely light smartphone user, he gets well over a day out of the battery. A normal user would probably be looking to plug in by 8-10 pm every night.

As an owner of the phone, the best I can compare it to (if we went back three years) would be my ancient Samsung focus. Phone isn't anything spectacular, but when it comes to everyday use and just being a phone, it does just that. I do play games on my phone, but they're more quick and easy than anything.

Basically, it's a phone that won't be winning any benchmarks anytime soon, but it doesn't need to, because it gets done what most people are looking for these days anyway - having a reliable phone.

S Pen is a gimmick??
It is like saying the ability to have a mouse and a stylus support with your laptop is a gimmick.
You clearly have no idea what the S Pen on the Note 3 is capable of, nor you ever have really tried it.

The screen on the Note 3 is miles ahead of that in the S3- natural colors without horrid black clipping, huge size benefit, dramatically better outdoor visibility, and noticably increased sharpness.

Im not surprised by these complaints because thats what people have been saying about these phones and/or companies for a while now.

I was drilled about the battery life on HTC phones and............I WAS RIGHT!!!! Samsung is known for their batteries overheating, but has been better than previous models..........anytime you have a phone with no MicroSD card support is going to be a problem...........as for iPhones.....well.....their iPhones and they're trying to remain relevant

Like I said before, every phone will have their problems so you have to be very careful in the phone you put your money, time, and patience into

46.papss (unregistered)

I just traded my note 3 for a g2 and so far like it a lot. Didnt dig touch wiz but the phone was great. This g2 fits me better personally. Now its time to get my 1020 replaced with the 1520 and im set.

My latest phone Z1, only 1 complaint. Camera wants to beautify Every single picture, even if i turn it off.. its annoying as hell.

But thats all
Battery lasts about 35-50 hours with full usage
Games and apps runs smoothly
While interface is nice and slick.
(i've seen minor complaints about the viewing angles but who the F*ck looks at the phone in 45° angle?...)

So basically nothing that Moto X owners complain about is because of defects, and more because of design choices which don't affect the majority of users anyway. (The camera issues were resolved, so I don't count them). I'd rather take any of the X's issues than the overheating or crappy battery life.

Exactly. And btw I know many many Lumia owners and almost all have overheating issues and app crashing (even on 920s, only which seems to be working well is 925). My own Lumia 800 had broken usb port, 720 was much better, though.

48.papss (unregistered)

Well, well, well. HTC known for battery issues? My rant on why I left HTC when they eliminated removable batteries is now coming full circle.

Us old guys seem to know a thing or two about technology. What good is looks if your device isn't going to perform at optimum in the battery or expandable memory segment?.

I've said it before until I'm blue in the face. The industry is not yet ready to sacrifice removable batteries or SD slots until other means are brought to respectable stability in order to replace the current elements.

Let's get back to the basics here. There is no good reason why manufacturers can't leave accessibility availability to consumers.

I've had awful overheating issues with Samsung devices over the years and i largely blame it on Exynos. Until they ditch the chip on international variants or fix it's overheating issues, i'm never buying another Samsung again.

That's interesting. I returned my HTC One due to heating up quickly, but maybe mine was a flawed one. The S4 I had didn't have overheating issues and I would've kept it had I not dropped it in the pool.

You can never find any of these problems on any BlackBerry 10 smart phone. I am using the Q5, and I have never experienced any of these issues. My battery last more 12hrs daily and in less than 2hrs it's fully charged

53.Teja171 (unregistered)

54.papss (unregistered)

No thanks... i wont reward Chinese companies with the way the love to copy. Id pay more for less just not to buy anything chinese but thats just me. They already get enough of my american money with our glorious contries trade agreements and borrowing.

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